Thread: Was I close?

1. You can still transition. It just may take a little longer to actually get the REM stage rolling again (if you are in between REM cycles).
2. You can't really get stuck in the transition. If you are in full SP, but can't seem to transition, you aren't fully falling asleep.

Yeah, I believe it is possible to access memories, though your mind could also easily recreate a false memory that would seem very convincing.

Thanks! Yeah, the subconscious mind really interests me. What if you try to WILD at the completely wrong time in the REM cycle, like you try before sleeping at all? Sorry for the stupid questions

Well, it is very possible to WILD before sleep, but it generally takes a long time to transition in my experience. The only times I can think that I had much success were on days that I experience significant sleep deprivation the night before. At the beginning of the sleep cycle, the REM periods are much shorter and the quality of your lucid may suffer as well. It is just much more efficient to wait until you are further along in the sleep cycle.

I'm kind of new, I've had some LD's as a kid but I had my first deliberate Lucid Dream last night on my third day since discovering this sight, third night of trying and first day of ADA, I got lucky as I woke up in the early morning, was dozing for a bit and then thought 'Shit, WBTB time, now!', at first I listened to isochronic tones that wound down from alpha to theta but I couldn't get comfortable due to the earphones (got pretty close to SP though) anyway I did get lucid and the feeling of euphoria was incredible upon making my first conscious observation of being in a dream.

I've tried WILDing but I think before I put too much emphasis on trying to visualise and incubate a dream and it just kept me awake, this thread has been really useful and hopefully I'll manage to WILD. Yoshi, do you recommend trying to synchronise WILDing with the beginning of a REM cycle.

Yeah, that is the ideal scenario. It doesn't have to be exact, but hitting a WBTB somewhere in the first half of the REM cycle, would be ideal. The REM cycle, generally, rolls through every 90 minutes, so that would be a good way to start. I find that it doesn't seem to take 90 minutes toward the end of the sleep cycle. When I perform WBTBs, I set my alarms for after 4, 6, 7, and 8 hours of sleep. If I sleep longer than 8 hours, I just keep setting the alarms in 1 hour increments. You can play around with the times and try to synchronize the alarms to suit your own sleep cycle.

Hey Yoshi, how can you make scary hallucinations go away? I read one of your WILD DJ entires and you talked about you were getting choked, thought about it and it got tighter. Could you actually not breathe? What can you do to overcome them, thanks again, and I'm going to try hard to complete the WILD tonight

I actually could breathe just fine, but the hallucination of being choked and losing my breath made me feel like I couldn't. Basically, you have to power through the hallucination and do everything you can to simply ignore it. If you can get your attention on something else and act like nothing scary is happening, the hallucination will pass. Like if you are getting choked, remind yourself that it is a hallucination, then try to think about something else completely. Ignore the choking and it will soon pass.

Hi guys. Am new here, but i have been reading alot on this site for the past 5 days. Have attemted WILD as chaoschief and have experienced the same problems he is having.
First of all thanks chaoschief for asking all those questions (even if you thought they were dumb) has helped me heaps and saved me from asking them myself
Thanks King Yosi, for your dedication to this forum, and to help others to experience the wonderful world of Lucid Dreaming. Im sure im not alone in appriciating you for the time to answer these questions.

Hope to be sharing my own WILD experiences soon, and to help others share in it also.

No problem at all and I'm glad the help is appreciated . Be sure to update me on your progress. If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

So I attempted WILD again at 12 o'clock (I'd woken at 8) I got closer than I've ever done before. As I was getting closer to SP I just relaxed and told myself that anything that was to come would only be in my mind (including the feeling of a spider crawling on my arm). I was listening to Theta Isochronic tones and as I relaxed more and more I felt my body playing the usual tricks to see whether I really was falling asleep, but no matter how uncomfortable it was I just told myself to keep relaxing and focused on the white noise, and invariably the sensations would pass. Eventually I got full on HI, kaleidoscopic blues, yellows and reds.

But here is where I hit a serious road block, I kept getting a near irresistible urge to open my eyes, I was fighting to keep them closed, muscles twitching, everything. Again I told myself this imperative was just a hallucination and I settled down again, but when I did so, my eyes refocused and the HI seemed to 'reset'. After a couple of cycles of this I was seized by a sudden urge to just give up. This wasn't a conscious choice but more like something from outside of me (I was completely willing to carry on) I resisted this urge but found that I was suddenly wide awake and just got up.

Is this a usual road block to encounter when engaging in WILD?

Congrats on your progress! The eyes get kind of crazy when SP sets in and they can cause some troubles. Just relax them and do exactly as you did. Remind yourself that it is a hallucination and simply ignore them. I, personally, have never felt this urge to give up, but I have had others tell me about it before. If you want to continue in the process, but something is randomly urging you to give up, it is likely a hallucination as well. It may just take some practice to get through this and it may never show up again.

Also, are you 100% certain that you were awake. You said you suddenly felt wide awake. Did you perform a RC to see if you had transition and was actually within a dream? This could be a possibility as well. Going from super relaxed and tired to wide awake makes me a little suspicious .

No I definitely was awake, I assure you, I hope I haven't done several hours of revision only to wake up soon and have to do it all again And I was really only on the cusp of sleep paralysis, I was utterly certain that I hadn't fallen asleep (even though the attempt lasted about an hour) I still RC'd anyway to keep the habit going.

Like you said, as I was experiencing it I kept telling myself everything I was feeling was a hallucination and it really kept me calm (I was even able to be perfectly calm about the 'racing pulse' illusion). Perhaps I had too much sleep last night to nap this morning (I had about 8 hours). I'm definitely not disheartened, from what I've read and from your advice, WILDing seems to be 98% experience, I'm sure I'll get even further next time
Thanks for all your help KingYoshi, it really makes a difference to us newbies. =)

EDIT: when I said I went from tired relaxed to wide awake I mean I suddenly had no desire to sleep, I was certainly bleary eyed and groggy when I got up. I'm glad I'm not the only one to feel a sudden compulsion to stop.

Ah, I see. I was just a little suspicious . Yeah, just keep practicing and working on it. Just try to get a little further along in the process with each attempt. You are definitely making progress, just keep trying to build on that and keep me updated. i will try to help out as much as I can along the way !

Well, i attempted a WILD last night. Got dam close, had the HI and watched them go by, but couldnt get myself into the dream. Found i could twitch my finger a bit too while experiencing the HI, so i figured because i wasnt in SP i couldnt enter the dream.

Anyhow, i did manage to have a DILD last night in the morning. I flew, it was fantastic. Then hit the ground like a rock later... but thats another story.
One question.
I have never been able to remember my dreams in the past. But last night i remember sooo much of the dreams, even though i wasn't lucid through them. Why all of a sudden can i remember my dreams, even though i wasnt aware i was dreaming at the time?

First off, congrats on your success ! It also sounds like you are getting very close with WILDing, so just keep practicing.

You weren't remembering dreams before, because you weren't actively trying to remember them. Joining a dreaming website and simply wanting to remember your dreams can help boost your recall. Dreaming and everything related to it is all in your mind. If you want to remember your dreams, practice dreaming, and keep your mind on dreaming, your recall will improve off of those things alone. You can further enhance recall by keeping up with a Dream Journal, performing mantras, etc. Again, congrats on your success and keep up the good work !